Here’s how many Cannabis Licences New York will initially Award
Regulators plan to award up to 150 licences across 14 regions in New York State
New York regulators are a few short months away from launching legal cannabis sales. Over the past year, responsible parties have been preparing laws and setting the stage for this launch.
Last week, the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) released a regional breakdown of possible dispensaries, showing just how many licences would be awarded per area.
The OCM reports it will award as many as 150 licences across 14 regions in New York State. Big boroughs such as Manhattan and Brooklyn have more licences and, thus, are likely to have more dispensaries. The region with the most room for licences is Manhattan, with 22 in all. Just on the heels of that are Long Island and Brooklyn, with 20 and 19 licences, respectively. Other highly populated areas like Queens and the Bronx follow with 16 and 10 licences each.
The OCM is currently gearing up to provide Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licences to applicants, which are the ones provided to people who have been “justice-involved.”
The CAURD spots will be the first licences to be provided to the public, with the goal being to benefit those who have been harmed the most because of the penalization of cannabis. “CAURD licensees are positioned to make New York’s first legal cannabis sales before the end of 2022, speeding the delivery of investments into communities across New York State that were impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition,” reads OCM’s official website.
The application process is supposed to be simple and cheap, requiring no outside help from lawyers or other parties.
“The primary goal of the CAURD licence is to create opportunities for New Yorkers harmed most by the prohibition of cannabis,” OCM spokesperson Aaron Ghitelman told Marijuana Moment. “Part of that is granting up to 150 CAURD licences to individuals who, themselves, or their close family members, have had past eligible cannabis-related offences and have ownership stakes in profitable businesses,” Ghitelman reportedly added.
New York was set to start accepting dispensary applications on Aug. 25, with the goal of having affected businesses up and running by the end of 2022.
